FAISALABAD. Negotiations has been initiated for Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Pakistan and Turkey and a formal agreement is expected within next year which will open new avenues for the promotion of bilateral trade between the two countries, said Ambassador of Turkey His Excellency Sadik Babur Girgin.
He was addressing the business community of Faisalabad in FCCI here Wednesday afternoon.T he meeting was also attended by Mr. Altaf M. Salim Honorary Consul General of Turkey in Faisalabad and commercial Consular Farhat Abbasi.
Mr. Girgin said efforts have yielded positive result to enhance rail, road and air connectivity between the two countries. “Just two years ago there were only 7 flights between Pakistan and Turkey which has now been increased to 21”, he added.
Regarding rail connections, he said that most of the people are familiar with RCD which has now been converted into ECO (Economic Coordination Organization). He told that we are planning to start a cargo train from Rawat (Islamabad) to Istanbul which could be further extended up to Germany in later phase. Regarding road links, he said that first meeting of road transport committee of ECO was held during last week and discussed the related issues. He further told that Turkey also participated in International seminar held at Lahore on business opportunities as second largest participant after China. The Turkish Companies signed 23 agreements which indicate that our bilateral relations will further increase in the coming years.
During question and answer session, he told that Turkey has close liaison with University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) and a goat project has been completed to arrest rural poverty. He said that Turkey had also established schools and hospitals in earth quake hit Kashmir and flood ravaged district of Muzaffargarh in southern Punjab. “Turkey has also provided 4000 housing units to the displaced brethren.
Responding to yet another question about opportunities brewing out of CPEC (China Pakistan Economic Corridor) he said that Turkey has offered interest to participate in the construction of high tech roads and buildings in which it has sufficient expertise. However, he made it clear that government job is to facilitate through legislation and agreements while remaining job has to be under taken by the entrepreneurs of the respective countries.
He also indicated that Turkey was actively considering launching a joint venture in cheese manufacturing. “In this connection, a Turkish firm has already started market survey to fully exploit the production of milk in this country”, he added.
Replying to yet another question, he said that the recent international incidents indicate a hard time ahead for the Muslim countries in the near future and we have to face this situation by forging unity among the Muslim countries. He told that Turkey has spent 8 billion dollars during last 2 years on 2.2 million Syrian and 3 million Iraqi refugees. He said that only Pakistan can understand our difficulties as it had also hosted millions of Afghan refugees. He hoped that situation in these countries will soon return to normal and refugees will be repatriated back to their home countries.
Regarding a question about visa, he told that the Turkish Embassy has introduced on line system to apply for Turkish visa. “The Lahore Consulate has also been empowered to issue visas and it will certainly facilitate the businessmen of Faisalabad intending to visit Turkey”, he added.
